Custom articles deliver ultimate flexibility

Our ability to create custom articles is a unique and powerful feature that differentiates the Wide Area content management application from its competitors.

We can accommodate any content structure with a custom article, and once we have your data in the right format, we can use it to build complex front-end sites without adding technical complexity to the build process. This means that projects can be delivered in a cost-effective way and are easy to maintain.

These articles can be populated via a web page as well as from the management interface, so can be used to capture user-generated content or to create private management pages, as well as to streamline the content creation process via the management interface.

Semantic tags keep hot topics visible

Tags are the least structured method used in content management for organising articles, there are a million and one uses for symantic tags within a site design.

It only takes a few seconds to add tags to each article as you create it. The auto-complete function ensures that you don't duplicate tags or inadvertently create a variant that will dilute the user experience.

Used well, tags are a key tool to increasing the stickiness of your content, as you create fluid and dynamic relationships between articles. They are also used in conjunction with other structures such as sections and attributes, to deliver fine-grain filters and custom views.

Article attribution enables us to deliver complex design structures in a simple way

Good web design needs the ability to slice through content, and great usability needs to put that fine-grain control into the hands of the content creators.

Our content management application delivers this control by letting editors define and set article attributes. An attribute can represent anything from the person who wrote it, the group of users who can view it, or the way it looks on the page.

The ability to set multi-value attributes means that an article can appear within more than one filter, leaving the navigation in the hands of you users. Used in conjunction with semantic tags and custom articles, we have the tools to implement complex designs easily.

Organise articles intuitively

A key feature of the Wide Area CMS is the separation of content from design. This means that the structure that is used in the application does not necessarily have to match the way that articles appear on you website.

Our application uses a series of folders that represent sections and sub-sections of content (just like see in Microsoft Windows applications). However, what goes on in the CMS has no impact on the design options for the front of your site.

This means that we can create a management system that is focused on workflows and efficiency for your content creators, whilst maintaining a great user experience for your site visitors.

Unlike some content management systems, where what you see is all you get, the Wide Area option delivers complete flexibility every time.

Use content areas to streamline production

The Wide Area content management application includes a top level content management structure that lets you restrict access to blocks of content to certain users.

This option also means that you simplify the workspace for all users, making the application even easier to use and quick for new staff to learn.

Separating editorial content from marketing pages is a simple example of how you can structure your content to suit your team.

A more complex example is if you had a range of external suppliers providing products to your store. In this instance you want each supplier to manage their own inventory without accessing each others, or any editorial content.

By giving each supplier their own content management area, they only get access to the things that they need.

Don't forget, you can also control what each user can do within the system by assigning them a user type. Production users can add content but only editors can publish.